Saturday, July 26, 2008

Held earlier this month at Long Beach, California, the 17th Annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend, presented by Performance Machine, was quite a success. More than 10,000 people are said to have attended the two-day event, and close to US$90,000 was given away in cash and awards.

Meant for customized bikes, the show has various categories for American v-twin, performance bikes, classic machines, bobber and choppers, and sportsbikes. And going by the pictures, we can say there is quite a bit of creativity and hard work that’s gone into the bikes displayed at the show.

Get the full story and picture gallery here, and check out the 2009 Fast Dates calendar here

The Victory Vision, already one of the coolest touring motorcycles around, has now got a style update from Arlen Ness, and his son Cory. Launched at a time when Victory Motorcycles are celebrating their 10th Anniversary, the Ness Signature Series Victory Vision looks even cooler than the ‘normal’ Vision, though it does cost all of US$25,000.

The Ness Signature Series Victory Vision is still powered by Polaris’ fuel-injected, air-and-oil cooled, SOHC eight-valve 1731cc ‘Freedom’ V-twin, which produces 92 horsepower and 147Nm of torque. The gearbox is also the same six-speed unit and the fully adjustable suspension remains unchanged. However, the Ness Vision gets bits like custom-made billet wheels and leather seats, an adjustable electric windshield, a fancy radio/stereo and a special paintjob.

With the new special-edition Vun, CR&S are paying homage to Paton, the legendary motorcycle roadracing company that's now celebrating its 50th AnniversaryPics: Motoblog

Founded by Joseph ‘Pep’ Pattoni, Paton is a legendary name in the world of 500cc motorcycle grand prix racing. Recently, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the occasion was marked by CR&S building a special-edition Vun, painted in Paton’s classic 1960s colours – gold, green and yellow.

With chassis #050, the Paton 50th Anniversary edition Vun was shown at Chimay, in Belgium, in a roadracing meet for classic bikes. Roberto Pattoni, who now heads Paton, was present for the unveiling of the bike.

The CR&S Vun is powered by a liquid-cooled, four-valve, DOHC, 652cc, single-cylinder Bombardier-Rotax engine that makes 54 horsepower. The 135-kilo bike’s calling card, however, is said to be its handling. More details on the Vun here and you can visit the CR&S official website here

According to one report on MotorBox, Benelli are working on a brand-new, 600cc sportsbike that could take on the Japanese brigade in 2009. Apart from the Gilera 600 there has been no other supersport 600 from Italy in recent times, but the Benelli could change that.

Taking a break from their traditional three-cylinder engines, Benelli are expected to use an inline-four for their 600cc sportsbike. Unlike Triumph, who’ve been quite successful with their three-cylinder Daytona 675, Benelli want to take the Japanese head-on, with a four-cylinder 600!

The 2009 Benelli 600 is expected to have a very high-tech, fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, DOHC, 16-valve, oversquare engine that produces around 125 horsepower. But where things get really radical is the chassis and suspension. Instead of an aluminium beam or steel tube trellis frame, the Benelli 600 is likely to have carbonfibre monocoque chassis, single-sided rear swingarm and front swingarm with Bimota Tesi-style hub-centre steering!

Pierluigi Marconi, who earlier worked at Bimota and who created the first Tesi’s radical front end, is now the technical director at Benelli, so indeed it wouldn’t be very surprising if the 2009 Benelli 600 packed a few surprises in the chassis and suspension department.

We hope to see a working prototype of this bike at the EICMA show in Milan later this year…!

The 2009 Yamaha R1 will take design cues from the current R6 and technology inputs from the M1 MotoGP machine. The result should be quite spectacular...!

Yamaha are expected to launch an all-new R1 next year, to take on the ZX-10R, Fireblade and GSX-R1000, all of which now make the current R1 look a bit dated. According to a report on Motociclismo, the 2009 Yamaha R1 is already under development, with extensive test sessions being conducted on various racing circuits in Europe.

According to Motociclismo, Yamaha are working on a super-lightweight R1, which will make extensive use of magnesium for many of its components. Also, the bike’s styling is expected to be an evolution of the current R6, with twin underseat exhausts finally making way for a single, short-and-stubby R6-style item.

Coming back to the ‘lightweight’ bit, the 2009 R1 could be as much as 10 kilos lighter than the current model, which would partly be possible due to the use of various magnesium bits. Magnesium can corrode quickly, so Yamaha will use a special electrolysis process that will protect the bike’s magnesium parts and also provide an excellent finish.

The 2009 R1’s chassis will be all-new and the bike’s extensively reworked (perhaps all-new) inline-four will use learnings from Yamaha’s M1 MotoGP bike. And finally, the bike is expected to have a traction-control system that’s more advanced and sophisticated than any other system currently available. Watch out for more details soon...

There's an interesting article on Moto Caradisiac about the Peugeot DJ 1200, a one-off racebike designed for the Bol d’Or endurance races, made in 1979-80. Created by one Didier Jillet, the bike was fitted with an 1130cc inline-four from the Peugeot 204 saloon. Fed by twin 40mm Weber carbs, the lightened and tuned engine produced about 100 horsepower at 7500rpm.

Apart from the engine, the other notable thing about the DJ 1200 racebike was its front suspension – a single shock absorber mated to something that looks like a rear swingarm rotated upwards by about 80 degrees! The bike had a dry clutch and a six-speed gearbox. The bike rode on 18-inch wheels, shod with Michelin rubber. Fully fueled and with all fluids, the Peugeot-powered DJ 1200 weighed 261 kilos.

According to the MC report, the DJ 1200 was quick in tests, but Jillet’s financial constraints did not allow him to fully develop the bike. Makes you wonder how the bike might have done if its creator had a bit more money for development, and if the bike had been backed by one of the big endurance racing teams of that era…

The next Derbi streetbike just might use design cues from the GPR concept...Pics: Daily Motos

Carlos Carrasco, a student of transport design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Barcelona, has created this GPR concept, which uses the mechanical bits from a Derbi GPR 125 streetbike. ‘Designing a motorcycle is the most exciting thing you can do. All vehicles have a kind of soul that goes beyond the materials used to make them, but motorcycles are one step above,’ says Carrasco.

Derbi agreed to collaborate with Carrasco on this project, and supplied him with a GPR 125 on which to base the project. Carrasco says his concept bike’s exaggerated proportions pay homage to Derbi’s 50cc racebikes from the 1960s and 70s, with their elongated fuel tanks and extreme riding position.

Can this concept form the basis for a new Derbi streetbike? ‘I never thought it might become a street bike. I simply wanted to express my feeling for motorcycles in a project that has more sculpture than machine in it,’ says Carrasco. ‘As it is, the GPR concept is very aggressive and has extreme geometry. For a streetbike to be based on this, a lot of things would need to be changed,’ he adds.

Derbi are, it seems, ready to give Carrasco an opportunity to design a real-world streetbike for them. So you never really do know – if you’re a Spanish teenager, you just might be riding a Carrasco-designed Derbi 125 next year…!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Things just got better for fans of Triumph’s Street Triple – the company has just announced a higher-spec R version for 2009. On the list of goodies are fully-adjustable 41mm USD forks, fully adjustable monoshock, and 308mm front disc brakes (Nissin) with radial-mount four-piston calipers.

The Street Triple R’s 675cc three-cylinder engine remains the same, producing 106 horsepower at 11700rpm. The bike gets new tapered aluminium handlebars from Magura, that are wider than before. According to Triumph, this, combined with a 5mm taller seat height makes for a better riding position.

The 2009 Street Triple R will be available in two colour schemes – matt graphite with orange graphics, and matt orange with grey graphics. Adding to the style quotient are black-anodised forks and two-tone black-and-graphite seats. The bike’s price and availability are yet to be announced.

The 2009 Buell 1125CR - the streetfighter/cafe racer version of last year's 1125RPics: Buell

After last year’s 1125R, Buell are ready with their next machine – the 1125CR café racer. The machine uses Buell’s 1125cc liquid-cooled ‘Helicon’ v-twin that makes 146 horsepower at 9800rpm and 110Nm of torque at 9800rpm.

‘Part superbike and part streetfighter, the 1125CR is my vision of a 21st century café racer,’ says Erik Buell, the company’s chairman and chief technical officer. ‘It’s got Clubman-style bars and a flyscreen instead of a fairing. Then, we geared it down to optimize acceleration. With a class-leading weight-to-horsepower ratio, the 1125CR takes streetfighter performance to a new level,’ he adds.

Like all Buell machines, the 1125CR looks a bit eccentric. But it should be fun to ride...

The Buell website says that the 1125CR features ‘A fearsome blend of superbike performance, sinister styling and wicked attitude,’ and that ‘it pushes the boundaries of the naked category.’ ‘Powerful acceleration in any gear, an aggressive, sport riding position, and precise handling that provides an experience like no other,’ are other virtues claimed for the 1125CR, which weighs in at about 169 kilos dry.